NBA Flashback: The Eternal Celtic, Tommy “Jack of All Trades” Heinsohn

To current Boston Celtic followers, Tommy Heinsohn is a broadcaster, the one with the gravelly voice, funny accent and even funnier glasses like your Grandma used to wear.

Tom the Player

Those inclined to “browse” the history of the game and league, particularly the birth of the Celtic championship legacy, will find the on-court prowess of Tommy Gun and his Heinie Hook plentifully documented – a veritable plethora, you might say.

It was, after all, Tom Heinsohn, not Bill Russell, who was chosen NBA Rookie of the Year for the 1956-57 season.

Heinsohn the player was a shameless ball-hog and bruiser, adding elements of offensive firepower and physicality which nicely complemented the thoughtful finesse that was so evident in the games of Russ and Bob Cousy.

Tommy may have smoked and drunk himself to an earlier than necessary end to his playing days at age 30—hardly the only pro athlete of that quaint era about whom this could accurately be said—but he was indeed a primary contributor to the best team in the league in all but one of his nine seasons.

Tom the Coach

Frequently overlooked in the Heinsohn legacy, even by some BR scribes with an eye toward nostalgia, is the near decade of head coaching, including two championship banners, he contributed to the franchise.

The squad whose reins Heinsohn assumed for the 1969-70 season had lost 40 percent of its championship starting lineup and even more of its heart and soul via the retirements of Russell and Sam Jones.  Holdovers John Havlicek, Bailey Howell, Don Nelson and Emmette Bryant along with a youthful backcourt of Don Chaney and Jo Jo White spent a season in search of an identity, not to mention a competent center.  (No offense, Hank Finkel!)

With the arrival of Dave Cowens, the center was found, and a gritty identity was beginning to be forged.  In the tradition of the dynasty days, a supporting cast was assembled and upgraded through draft (Steve Kuberski, Paul Westphal) and trade (Art Williams, Paul Silas).

By the 1972-73 season, Coach Heinsohn had a 68-win juggernaut on his hands, led by NBA MVP Cowens.  Only an injury to Havlicek (picture Rondo’s one-armed effort in last season’s playoffs) allowed Red Holzman’s battle-tested Knicks to escape with a seventh-game victory at our Garden on their way to a title.

The ’74 and ’76 postseasons were more accommodating to Heinie’s Heroes.

Ownerships by a Left Coast movie mogul and a certifiable Kentucky kook pushed the franchise into disarray, taking its toll on Heinsohn, who was an ex-coach 18 months after being a championship coach.

In John Feinstein’s Let Me Tell You a Story, Red explains, “I had to make the change.  Tommy was worn out.  He just didn’t want to fight the battles anymore.  I understood.”

Tom the Broadcaster

Before long, Tommy and his funky eyewear found their way to the broadcast table, where it seems he’s been ever since.

There’s a chapter of Heinsohn history even more overlooked than his coaching credential, and that’s his early broadcasting work in the late 1960s when local broadcasts were few, far between, and frequently from Philly.

Tommy was teamed with the inimitable Auerbach, forming broadcast journalism’s most bizarrely unique pairing ever.

Listen closely and you can almost hear the two of them berating referee Mendy Rudolph for a blown call.

Listen even more closely and you’ll hear the unmistakable voice of Philly PA man Dave Zinkoff, “Walker…shooting…ta-hoo.”

Are you listening, NBA TV’s Hardwood Classics?